Surprise Tsonga has face of a champion

MELBOURNE, Australia – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga seems like a natural when it comes to settling into the Champ’s shoes.

Muhammad Ali lookalike Tsonga reached the Australian Open final in only his fifth Grand Slam tournament and was set for a shot at the title overnight against No. 3 Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena.

Despite his No. 38 ranking, Tsonga was considered a serious title contender after his semifinal upset of No. 2 Rafael Nadal that followed victories over three other top 15 players.

Hours before Maria Sharapova won the women’s final over Ana Ivanovic on Saturday, Tsonga attended a news conference and told a story of his links to Ali.

“My father was at the fight at Kinshasa because he’s from Brazzaville,” Tsonga said, talking about the “Rumble in the Jungle” when Ali took the heavyweight title from George Foreman in October, 1974 in what was then known as Zaire.

“He took some photos, so I have some souvenir.”

Tsonga’s parents, former Congo international handball player Didier and mother Evelyne, were flying to Melbourne from France to attend the final.

It’s been 80 years since a Frenchman won the Australian Open – Jean Borotra in 1928. Five other Frenchmen have advanced to major finals in the Open era, with only Yannick Noah going on to capture the title, at the 1983 French Open.

Just like Ali, Tsonga had the media eating out of his hands.

Revealing that Ali was not exactly a childhood idol, despite the nickname because of the uncanny resemblance, Tsonga said he’d grown to admire the great boxer and maybe took some of Ali’s “personality on the court”.

Meanwhile, no Serbian has won a major and Djokovic is determined to end that drought after snapping Roger Federer’s run of 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals.

It’s the first time since Marat Safin upset Federer in the semifinals of the 2005 Australian Open that neither Federer nor Nadal will be a Grand Slam champion.

“I think every sport is waiting to have some new faces,” the 20-year-old Djokovic said.

“Tsonga is coming up. He’s just an amazing athlete. He’s been performing some impressive tennis in these two weeks – as have I.

“I still didn’t lose even a set here in Australian Open, which is also amazing.”

Djokovic is confident, having become the youngest man in the Open era to reach the semifinals at all four majors.

“It’s going to be interesting very much to see young players playing against each other. Obviously, we will not have anything to lose,” Djokovic said.